Wall boards, such as gypsum or foam board panels, are used in building construction to form the partitions or walls of rooms, hallways, ceilings, and the like. Similar boards are also used in exterior wall or roof construction, such as sheathing or roof deck. These panels may include mats, such as fiberglass or other woven or nonwoven mats, on one or both faces to enhance the performance properties of the board, such as board strength, rigidity, weather durability, and moisture or mold resistance. For example, these mats may be used in place of traditional paper facings. In addition, fiberglass or other woven or nonwoven mats are used by laminating or impregnating with membranes or tiles for roofing, flooring, and ceiling applications. Such woven or nonwoven mats may be manufactured in-line with the wall board or independently thereof.
One common issue with such mat-faced boards, such as fiberglass-faced gypsum boards, is that fiber disengagement tends to occur at the surface of the board, causing itchiness and fiber dusting. Moreover, the exposed mat surface is abrasive and brittle, which leads to issues with handling and integrity. To attempt to alleviate these issues, a binder may be applied to the surface of the fiberglass mat, to attempt to form a protective layer during mat manufacturing processes. However, application of a binder on the fiberglass mat is typically of limited effectiveness due to the high porosity of the glass mat, which leads to non-uniform, discontinuous coverage of the binder on the mat, which results in significant gypsum slurry bleed-through.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide nonwoven mats and mat-faced panels having improved properties, such as improved surface protection and smoothness, reduced itchiness and/or fiber disengagement, and decreased porosity of the exterior mat surface to contain gypsum slurry bleed-through, as well as methods for producing such improved mats and mat-faced panels.